Daughter of Heaven

Chapter 19 - The God of Demons

Yu Zhu woke up with with the fiery light of the sun peeking over the edge of the trees. She smiled, she hadn't slept so soundly for so long. She looked at the forest around her and realized that she couldn't see past the vast wilderness and find the village. Just then, an acorn flew up and hovered between her eyes. It pointed to the trees and floated towards the woods again, it would lead her home  She smiled and patted the tree, after all she was in the land of demons, it wasn't so strange if a tree had a little bit of magic. With that, she rose and followed the floating acorn. The leaves behind her shook lazily.

"Yu Zhu!" Lin Yu saw the diminutive girl walking on the path to the little cottage. "Where have you been? Grandfather, brother and I have been searching! Yu Zhu palmed the little acorn and hid it in her sleeve, it seemed to grow warm in her hands.

"I got lost." She smiled and Lin Yu stopped running. She had never seen the girl smile so openly, it was a stunning smile of someone who had stopped bearing the burden of the world on their shoulders. Grandfather saw Yu Zhu at the same time and covered a smile with his hand.  He told the two girls sternly, "Come to the courtyard."

Thought Lin Yu looked like a sixteen year old girl, she quickly hid behind Yu Zhu's back. "You go first." She whispered.

Grandfather sat down and put his heavy cane on the bleached stone table. The two girls stood silently in the dusty courtyard. A chicken clucked at them as if criticizing their behavior.

The old man looked at them and Yu Zhu looked down, she didn't act befitting of her station as a princess. With a jolt, she realized that she wasn't a princess anymore. And she gave a boy a black eye and a broken nose. Not to mention a hundred bruises. Maybe a broken hand.

"Why did you beat up the pig boy?" Grandfather's tone was stern as he looked at Yu Zhu. Lin Yu opened her mouth but Grandfather held up a hand to silence her.

Yu Zhu swallowed, "He was punching and kicking a beggar boy."

Grandfather gazed at her, "The world is full of beggars, no one will miss one if they died. People look at them like bugs, the rich and powerful see them as dust."

Yu Zhu raised her head and glared at the old man, "I care."

"Why?"

Her eyes lit with defiance.  But no words came out. How could she tell them that the cruel laughter sounded like what she heard in the garden where Hua Er said Yu Zhu was a burden no one would miss. She wanted to beat that sound away, to protect others it as well? She clenched her fists. Tears sprang up and there was bitterness on the tip of her tongue.

Grandfather sighed sadly, "A kind heart is often the way to an early grave."

Lin Yu grinned, "I just wanted to punch Ho Pai Lai." She grabbed Yu Zhu's hand, "But if you are going to punish Yu Zhu, then you'll have to punish me too."

Grandfather looked at Yu Zhu for a long moment. "I can not, in all good conscience, let you run wild in a town full of powerful demons without protection. You will start calling me Teacher tomorrow."

---

Yu Zhu thought that she knew the basics of martial arts but soon learned that the old man's knowledge was incomprehensibly vast. After the old man dumped her on her butt six times, she bowed to him and called him Master.

She learned how to mediate and put her heart at peace. She relearned Qing Gong, of manipulating her qi to allow her to jump great distances almost as if she was flying effortlessly. He taught her things that she thought she knew, but his movements made her realize that martial art's complexity relies on its seemingly simplistic movements.